diff --git a/rf4_research/community_cli.py b/rf4_research/community_cli.py
index aebae21..ac99d50 100644
--- a/rf4_research/community_cli.py
+++ b/rf4_research/community_cli.py
@@ -102,30 +102,65 @@ def mark_fetch(source: str, *, state_file: Path, now: float | None = None) -> No
     _write_state(state_file, state)
 
 
-def _validate_url_host(url: str) -> str:
-    """Validate URL hostname is in allowlist before making network call."""
-    hostname = (urlsplit(url).hostname or "").lower()
+MAX_REDIRECT_HOPS = 5
+ALLOWED_PORTS = frozenset({443, 80})
+
+
+def _validate_url_before_io(url: str) -> tuple[str, str]:
+    """A03: Validate scheme, host, port before any network I/O.
+
+    Returns (normalized_hostname, scheme). Raises ValueError for disallowed
+    schemes, ports, or hosts.
+    """
+    parsed = urlsplit(url)
+    # Validate scheme
+    if parsed.scheme not in ("http", "https"):
+        raise ValueError(f"URL scheme {parsed.scheme!r} not allowed")
+    if parsed.scheme != "https":
+        raise ValueError("Only HTTPS URLs are allowed")
+    # Validate port
+    if parsed.port is not None and parsed.port not in ALLOWED_PORTS:
+        raise ValueError(f"Port {parsed.port} not in allowed ports {ALLOWED_PORTS}")
+    # Validate hostname
+    hostname = (parsed.hostname or "").lower()
     if hostname.startswith("www."):
         hostname = hostname[4:]
     if not hostname:
         raise ValueError("URL must include a valid hostname")
     if hostname not in ALLOWED_HOSTS:
         raise ValueError(f"URL hostname {hostname} not in allowlist")
+    return hostname, parsed.scheme
+
+
+def _validate_url_host(url: str) -> str:
+    """Legacy alias for _validate_url_before_io (returns hostname only)."""
+    hostname, _ = _validate_url_before_io(url)
     return hostname
 
 
-def fetch_html(url: str, *, timeout: float = 30) -> str:
-    # Validate host BEFORE network I/O to prevent SSRF to internal endpoints
-    _validate_url_host(url)
+def fetch_html(url: str, *, timeout: float = 30, _redirects: int = 0) -> str:
+    """A03: Fetch with pre-I/O validation and redirect hop limit."""
+    if _redirects > MAX_REDIRECT_HOPS:
+        raise ValueError(f"Redirect chain exceeds {MAX_REDIRECT_HOPS} hops")
+    # Validate BEFORE any network I/O
+    hostname, scheme = _validate_url_before_io(url)
     request = Request(url, headers={"User-Agent": USER_AGENT, "Accept": "text/html"})
     with urlopen(request, timeout=timeout) as response:
         final_url = response.url
-        # Also validate redirect target
-        final_hostname = (urlsplit(final_url).hostname or "").lower()
+        # Validate redirect target
+        final_parsed = urlsplit(final_url)
+        final_hostname = (final_parsed.hostname or "").lower()
         if final_hostname.startswith("www."):
             final_hostname = final_hostname[4:]
         if final_hostname not in ALLOWED_HOSTS:
             raise ValueError(f"Redirect hostname {final_hostname} not in allowlist")
+        if final_parsed.scheme != "https":
+            raise ValueError("Redirect to non-HTTPS not allowed")
+        if final_parsed.port is not None and final_parsed.port not in ALLOWED_PORTS:
+            raise ValueError(f"Redirect port {final_parsed.port} not allowed")
+        # Recursively follow if redirect (urlopen follows automatically, but we check)
+        if final_url != url:
+            return fetch_html(final_url, timeout=timeout, _redirects=_redirects + 1)
         if response.headers.get_content_type() != "text/html":
             raise ValueError(f"expected text/html, got {response.headers.get_content_type()}")
         data = response.read(MAX_RESPONSE_BYTES + 1)
diff --git a/tests/test_community_cli.py b/tests/test_community_cli.py
index 07bf935..400e95b 100644
--- a/tests/test_community_cli.py
+++ b/tests/test_community_cli.py
@@ -43,20 +43,23 @@ def test_validate_url_host_rejects_disallowed_hosts() -> None:
 
     # Disallowed hosts raise ValueError before network I/O
     with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="not in allowlist"):
-        _validate_url_host("http://localhost:8080/admin")
+        _validate_url_host("https://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/")
     with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="not in allowlist"):
-        _validate_url_host("http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/")
-    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="not in allowlist"):
-        _validate_url_host("http://internal-service.corp/api")
+        _validate_url_host("https://internal-service.corp/api")
+    # Port validation also works
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="not in allowed ports"):
+        _validate_url_host("https://download.rf4db.com:9999/admin")
 
 
 def test_validate_url_host_rejects_missing_hostname() -> None:
     from rf4_research.community_cli import _validate_url_host
 
     with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="valid hostname"):
-        _validate_url_host("not-a-valid-url")
-    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="valid hostname"):
-        _validate_url_host("")
+        _validate_url_host("https://")
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="scheme.*not allowed"):
+        _validate_url_host("ftp://rf4db.com/file")
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="HTTPS"):
+        _validate_url_host("http://rf4db.com/file")
 
 
 def test_write_state_is_atomic_with_flush(tmp_path: Path) -> None: